Fair Assessments

Fair Assessment is a process used by teachers and students before, during, and after instruction to provide feedback and adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve student achievement. In Pennsylvania the four types of assessment are summative, formative, benchmark, and diagnostic.

• Summative Assessment: Seeks to make an overall judgment of progress made at the end of a defined period of instruction. They may occur at the end of a school level, grade, or course, or are administered at certain grades for purposes of state or local accountability. These are considered high-stakes assessments and the results are often used in conjunction with No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). They are designed to produce clear data on the student’s accomplishments at key points in his or her academic career.
• Formative Assessment: Used by teachers and students during instruction to provide feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes. In Pennsylvania we are defining formative assessment as classroom based assessments that allow teachers to monitor and adjust their instructional practices in order to meet the individual needs of their students.
• Diagnostic Assessment: Ascertains, prior to instruction, each student’s strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and skills. Establishing these permits the instructor to remediate students and adjust the curriculum to meet their unique needs.
• Benchmark Assessment: Measures achievement of important grade level content periodically during the year in order to provide feedback about how students are progressing toward demonstrating proficiency.